National

Pro-unification groups from both sides to meet

Sept 11,2018

A pro-unification group in South Korea will hold a joint event with its North Korean counterpart next month to call for sincere implementation of the agreement signed during the inter-Korean summit in April, officials said on Sunday.

The Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) said in a statement that it accepted a proposal from its North Korean counterpart of the same name to hold the joint event at the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea in late October.

The two KCRCs will meet to discuss the Panmunjom Declaration signed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their historic summit on April 27, the statement said. The two sides agreed to hold discussions via fax and email to work out further details.

Officials said the two sides decided to hold the event at the Mount Kumgang resort because it was where the first inter-Korean tourism program began and because they hope for an early resumption of the long-suspended program. The government in Seoul halted the program in 2008 after a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean guard.

The tour program and the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex were two prominent symbols of inter-Korean rapprochement that launched after the first summit ever between the two countries in 2000.